capodominicano said:
Thanks, but it's a little more complicated than that. My wife is Dominican, and I am not dissing Dominicans. But the reason I left my things with her...I was renting an apartment from her cousin, a huge , extremely obese guy, about 450 pounds worth, and in January I paid my rent, 2000 pesos as always. But when I paid, he did not give me a receipt. He said I had to pay 500 more, and that he was raising the rent, eventhough we had a 1 year contract for 2000. So I refused to pay more, and he kept my 2000 and did not give me any receipt. So I went downstairs to talk to his mother, and I told her what he did. He was there, and he said "What receipt? You didn't pay anything" So at that point, I of course said he was lying, and he grabbed me on the shoulder and said "Vamos para afuera, te voy a romper la cabeza" which means, let's go outside, I am going to break your head open. So I started to leave, and he came running after me when this other guy there grabbed him from behind, holding him back.
When that happened, I felt that I had to walk around with a knife in my pocket to protect myself, so I decided that it was time to leave the DR. I didn't know if I could go to the police because I had been there 8 months, and I thought that was illegal (but now I see it's no big deal). The next day I told the guy that I was leaving and I wanted my deposit back. He said "What deposit? Things are ugly for you... I don't owe you anything." This really pissed me off. However, I had my receipts that I paid him $8000 pesos for a deposit. I also loaned the guy $6000 more to finish the kitchen, and he never did. This landlord was a class act thief.
So being that I barely knew anyone, I called the lady who stole my things, because we were friends, and her aunt was this guy's mother (they were cousins). She then told me that I should move all my stuff to her house, and she would talk to his mother, and get me my deposit back. So being that I did not have many choices, I did that. I did feel worried and I had a gut feeling that I could not trust her. But when I asked one of the other neighbor's, they said they had no space and it was best to leave the stuff with that lady.
After I moved all my things to her house, I wanted to sell somethings, and right away she said "No way, you're not puting my phone number in the paper!" Then she said if I wasn't going to leave the stuff with her, I had to move everything out of her house immediately. So I was a bit stuck. She did manage to get me most of my deposit, but not all. Conveniently $1000 pesos was missing out of that.
Anyway, I left my things at her house, and stayed 6 days at her sister's house, away from the huge landlord who was threatening my life. I taught her how to take pictures and use my computer equipment, so she could work for me, and pay for some of the things I left at her house, but after just 2 months, she started selling the photos to my competing companies, and also contacting my clients directly and trying to do business behind my back. So I lost all trust in her, and asked for my things back. Then she extorted me for $1000 dollars U.S. I got a lawyer that someone recommended, he sucked, and didn't even show up on the court day...she lied in court, said I was her husband, and the court left the case open.
Well, that's it in a nutshell. I hope anyone who reads this learns something from it all. And maybe if I am very, very lucky, she'll go to jail someday. If not, at least she will die a thief and that certainly would suck.
